As always, NPCs only know what they know. Not that they're wrong in their analysis, I'll just disclaim that every time one of them tries to give advice until I think it's taken for granted.
Captain Garess dosn't see much point in building a catipult. Building one would take as long as digging the tunnel they don't want the manticore to see, and the manticore would see them making it. But . . . if it flew over to spy on them building a catipult or digging a tunnel, couldn't they just launch the ballistae at it? Wait, that wouldn't work, since Ozzy and Happs can't man the seige engines around the clock.
Iorskan, how far can you breath fire? I know you can't really fly yet, not very well at least, but maybe you could use the mites' kite thing to fly near the fort and breath enough fire to ignite the trap. That should get the manticore's attention, and then you can lead it back here. That would really make them fear you, and show your subjects how clever you are. Ozzy grins at her own cleverness, both in coming up with the plan and in appealing to the dragonling's vanity to sell the idea. And if your fire won't reach from that high up, you could always bring something flammable with you to that you could light and then drop on them.
Guthruc is surprised by his faithful lieutenant, Anura, who approaches the orc from behind and taps him on the shoulder.
The boggard has smeared his face with red clay, imposing over his froglike face a demon-like visage, a snarling monster with fangs and horns.
DC 20 kn. religion check:
The unholy symbol of Moloch.
The others turn and look at the boggard. (I assume that since everyone is speaking with each other, the named characters are gathered in one place.) Since Anura cannot speak common, the others are reliant on Guthruc for a translation.
boggard"War-King Shic'la," Anura bows low. "The time swift approaches that sacred bloodshed will be spilled above Moloch's infernal gaze. I would like to dedicate the souls of those damned today to my dark patron at this time."
"If you would, War-King, instruct your warband to join hands and recite the unholy verse with me."
Male Woodborn Seer 4; HP 31/31; AC 19/T15/FF 17; Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +7; Init +6; Per +11; Spd 30 ft. CMB +5, CMD 17
Awn watches the outlandishly got-up boggard's display with extreme and unveiled interest.
These Broken Lands really do contain the most improbable assortment of interesting beings. And us.
For the most part, Awn has trouble relating to siege tactics, deep strategies or the proper (or even, to his mind, improper) use of fire on any scale. He tries to stay close to his party so as to influence the correct series of events in the most fluid manner possible.
Wounds (0) HP (17) AC (16/14/12) Saves (7/5/4, +4 vs mind effecting) Fire Resist (5) Draconic Weaponry (5/5)
Iorskan listened in growing frustration. He couldn’t fly well! His flames weren’t big enough! The orc could fly better than him. The little dragon thumped his tail on the ground. ”I...I...I don’t need mites to fly! The indignity...grrrr...” Little plumes if smoke came out of his mouth as his anger rose.
”I go. My kobolds will build the tunnel. We...I! I will eat murder...” Little sparks of flame could be seen behind clentched teeth as the wyrmling stormed off. His pride had been damaged by the public airing of his inadequacies of being a dragon. His tiny flames, his inability to currently take off and fly on his own power. It had already been bothering him, but now it was unbearable. All he wanted to do was take his anger and frustration out on something by burning it alive and eating the charred remains. Because, at the end of the day, everyone had their own way of self-soothing.
Seeing Iorskan storm off, Guthruc turns to Anura.
boggard"Sorry, but if you wouldn't mind delaying your prayers, I need to comfort my draconic friend and ally"
Guthruc runs off to catch up with Iorskan.
"No worry small dragon, Guthruc eat many bird to gain their strength of fly. Small dragon just need eat more bird. Then Guthruc can help small dragon learn fly."
Wounds (0) HP (17) AC (16/14/12) Saves (7/5/4, +4 vs mind effecting) Fire Resist (5) Draconic Weaponry (5/5)
Iorskan’s tail swayed back and forth. ”You may be an orc, but you have the soul of a dragon. Thank you, Guthruc.” Despite not quite believing the theory, Iorskan was glad to have his friend and ally nearby. ”We shall eat many a bird and many a foe in the next few days. Their strength will be ours.”
I thought there was a significant gap where the undergrowth had been cleared between there and the tree line. But in any case, I can only think of one member of our party who would think to do anything to prevent fire from spreading, and we haven't heard from his player in about a week...
Btw, I do also have a scroll of Fly, but 7 minutes might not be enough for this purpose (considering that you also need to lead the manticore away), and I think the scroll would be better saved for a situation where the kite won't do the trick. I could give the scroll to Mr. Winky to cast if something goes wrong with the kite, but if he has the headdress, he'll still have a 10% chance of failing the UMD check. Ozzy can cast it without UMD, but she'd have to be in touch range, and since she needs to be manning the ballistas, that would make the round-trip flight a little iffy.
I thought there was a significant gap where the undergrowth had been cleared between there and the tree line. But in any case, I can only think of one member of our party who would think to do anything to prevent fire from spreading, and we haven't heard from his player in about a week...
Bright Awn posted just yesterday. As he said then, Bright Awn has trouble relating to siege tactics.
There isn't a huge gap between where the undergrowth has been piled and the tree line, sorry if my narration was unclear.
A firebreak could be made quite easily, a few feet of cleared vegetation and broken tree limbs goes a surprisingly long way to stopping a fire from spreading. With the number of people you have ready to apply mattocks to the dirt on command, it wouldn't take more than an afternoon's hard work. However, there's no way that you'll get that many people close to the fort without being seen. (Right now you're still a few miles away, relying on Winky for intel) (of course, Winky can't go that far afield, but Ozzy and Winky alone can get plenty close enough to get him in range)
Captain Garess thinks that you should move your ballistae close enough, and then dig the firebreak most audaciously in the hopes of drawing out the manticore. The firebreak needs to be made, and the manticore needs to be baited. As Guthruc would say, two birds one rock.
Bright Awn posted just yesterday. As he said then, Bright Awn has trouble relating to siege tactics.
Missed that one. My bad. So he's definitely listening to the conversation, but hasn't actually said anything about the use of fire yet.
Not to dismiss a suggested course of action from the GM, but working to stop the spread of a fire we're not supposed to expect in full view of the fort seems like a bad idea, even if we are trying to draw out the manticore...
How tall are the nearest trees, and how far are they from the wall? I'm thinking if we can cut some down and get them to fall toward the fort, maybe we can get the fire to spread to the fort, especially if we douse them with some lamp oil of our own before cutting them down.
I also really want to find a way to get some zombies inside the walls :)
How tall are the nearest trees, and how far are they from the wall? I'm thinking if we can cut some down and get them to fall toward the fort, maybe we can get the fire to spread to the fort, especially if we douse them with some lamp oil of our own before cutting them down.
Ooh! That sounds like fun. Nearest trees are ~seventy feet tall, which is plenty long enough that if you cut them down they'd lean on the pallisade.
Sweet. With the fortward end up, the fire will preferentially spread in that direction.
Btw, what are the walls made of? They look like wood. If they are, I'm also thinking that Mr Winky could covertly spread some lamp oil on them as well. If we do it on the zombie side, we might be able to burn a hole big enough for zombies to start wandering in through.
Ozzy consults with Viceroy Dragonfly to see if the mites can invent something they can covertly attach to a tree to rapidly cut it down while ensuring that it falls in the desired direction, or at least something that will allow them to cut it down from out of sight (say, a wire saw with rope extensions that they can pull on from a distance, that combined with some well placed ropes in the canopy should do the job).
Also, if I dismiss my eidolons, I can summon a small water elemental. Its drench ability should be able to keep the flames from spreading in the wrong direction...
Sweet. With the fortward end up, the fire will preferentially spread in that direction.
Should probably let Bright Awn or Guthruc roll survival to pick a day that the wind won't change on ya. But, yeah, fire tends to rise.
Quote:
Btw, what are the walls made of? They look like wood. If they are, I'm also thinking that Mr Winky could covertly spread some lamp oil on them as well. If we do it on the zombie side, we might be able to burn a hole big enough for zombies to start wandering in through.
Wooden the walls are. But it sounds like a risky plan. There's quite a few people milling about around or on top of those walls, and Mr. Winky would have to spend several full round actions stealthed to slather oil over a significant part of the wall. Only takes one bad roll on Winky's part, or one good roll on the part of one of the defenders. Compounding the difficulty is that Mr. Winky can't lift much lantern oil, so he'd have to make multiple trips.[ooc]
Ozara "Ozzy" wrote:
[ooc]Ozzy consults with Viceroy Dragonfly to see if the mites can invent something they can covertly attach to a tree to rapidly cut it down while ensuring that it falls in the desired direction, or at least something that will allow them to cut it down from out of sight (say, a wire saw with rope extensions that they can pull on from a distance, that combined with some well placed ropes in the canopy should do the job).
The mites brainstorm ideas, but they don't work in clockwork or spun wire. The best tool they can think of for cutting down trees is an axe.
Ozara "Ozzy" wrote:
Also, if I dismiss my eidolons, I can summon a small water elemental. Its drench ability should be able to keep the flames from spreading in the wrong direction...
Advanced Race Guide (Shadow Caller) wrote:
Summon Monster II: A shadow caller cannot summon Small elementals or lemures, but instead can summon zoogs.
The mites brainstorm ideas, but they don't work in clockwork or spun wire. The best tool they can think of for cutting down trees is an axe.
Ozzy is trained in Craft: Weapons and Kn: Engineering, and is used to surviving on her wits. She was also imaginative enough to make up creatures like Misters Blinky and Winky, so I don't think it would be out of character for her to come up with the wire saw thing herself. After all, its just a wire saw with extended handles...
You don't just have to come up with the idea. Spinning wire isn't easy, and isn't possible without specialized equipment you don't have.
Not to mention metal to make the wire out of. That could be important.
wire tangent:
Wikipedia wrote:
In antiquity, jewelry often contains, in the form of chains and applied decoration, large amounts of wire that is accurately made and which must have been produced by some efficient, if not technically advanced, means. In some cases, strips cut from metal sheet were made into wire by pulling them through perforations in stone beads. This causes the strips to fold round on themselves to form thin tubes. This strip drawing technique was in use in Egypt by the 2nd Dynasty. From the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE most of the gold wires in jewellery are characterised by seam lines that follow a spiral path along the wire. Such twisted strips can be converted into solid round wires by rolling them between flat surfaces or the strip wire drawing method. The strip twist wire manufacturing method was superseded by drawing in the ancient Old World sometime between about the 8th and 10th centuries AD.[2] There is some evidence for the use of drawing further East prior to this period.[3]
Square and hexagonal wires were possibly made using a swaging technique. In this method a metal rod was struck between grooved metal blocks, or between a grooved punch and a grooved metal anvil. Swaging is of great antiquity, possibly dating to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE in Egypt and in the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe for torcs and fibulae. Twisted square-section wires are a very common filigree decoration in early Etruscan jewelry.
In about the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE, a new category of decorative tube was introduced which imitated a line of granules. True beaded wire, produced by mechanically distorting a round-section wire, appeared in the Eastern Mediterranean and Italy in the seventh century BCE, perhaps disseminated by the Phoenicians. Beaded wire continued to be used in jewellery into modern times, although it largely fell out of favour in about the tenth century CE when two drawn round wires, twisted together to form what are termed 'ropes', provided a simpler-to-make alternative. A forerunner to beaded wire may be the notched strips and wires which first occur from around 2000 BCE in Anatolia.
Sophie Ryder's galvanised wire sculpture Sitting at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Wire was drawn in England from the medieval period. The wire was used to make wool cards and pins, manufactured goods whose import was prohibited by Edward IV in 1463.[4] The first wire mill in Great Britain was established at Tintern in about 1568 by the founders of the Company of Mineral and Battery Works, who had a monopoly on this.[5] Apart from their second wire mill at nearby Whitebrook,[6] there were no other wire mills before the second half of the 17th century. Despite the existence of mills, the drawing of wire down to fine sizes continued to be done manually.
Wire is usually drawn of cylindrical form; but it may be made of any desired section by varying the outline of the holes in the draw-plate through which it is passed in the process of manufacture. The draw-plate or die is a piece of hard cast-iron or hard steel, or for fine work it may be a diamond or a ruby. The object of utilising precious stones is to enable the dies to be used for a considerable period without losing their size, and so producing wire of incorrect diameter. Diamond dies must be rebored when they have lost their original diameter of hole, but metal dies are brought down to size again by hammering up the hole and then drifting it out to correct diameter with a punch.
I'm not trying to shoot down ideas, it's just that I don't see how it could be done.
My intention wasn't to invent the wire saw, just to send someone back to Oleg's to get some, assuming there aren't any to be found among our collective forces. They are, after all, a common tool (UE literally has an entry for "wire saw, common"). The only "crafting" I had in mind was figuring out how to tie rope to the ends so that they can be operated from out of sight.
Guthruc should be able to make better time than that, not needing to rest and all. We should probably take care of the manticore now, and have him (or whoever) run back for the saws while the kobolds are tunneling. The trees and fire will make a great distraction for a coordinated attack when the tunnel is finished. That would mean that we need to find a way to get the manticore's attention now without the defenses being ignited.
Did Mr. Winky see any sign of the manticore in his recon?
Btw, I still have that Disguise Self SLA, and now Sleeves of Many Garments to augment it. It's too bad they know that what's-his-face is dead. If we can get some other humanoid they would trust to come out, Ozzy could enter as that person.
Maybe we could just get the manticore's attention by sending someone to climb a tree to "spy" and do a bad job hiding. When the manticore spots them, they go down a rope (we could even tie it at an angle, zip line style) to a waiting horse and ride away, leading it into an ambush. If it looks like it's just a lone scout in the trees, they won't start the fire to defend against them.
Also, we should set up the ambush so the sun will be at our backs, either to the east shortly after sunrise or to the west shortly before sunset. That way the manticore will have the sun in its eyes as it approaches, and the favorable conditions should be good for some bonuses for us and penalties for the it.
Male Woodborn Seer 4; HP 31/31; AC 19/T15/FF 17; Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +7; Init +6; Per +11; Spd 30 ft. CMB +5, CMD 17
Awn seemsstrangely unperturbed by the notion of felling seventy foot trees, and stays silent. He will however provide advice as to the likelihood of squalls or perhaps, greater eddies, gyres or other vortices in the air.
Survival:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17not sure how many days that is good for...
If Guthruc has been told to retrieve the wire saw, he will immediately begin running there per the same rules that applied when he made a beeline to the kobold den.
So, I'm not a tactical leader, at all. I know this. I like simple things. So, I know it's probably too late (I was hoping someone else might help me understand this better), but I just want to throw it out there that I a) don't think I quite get at what Ozzy's proposing, and b) the part that I understand (possibly), I think it's a monumentally terrible idea. Here's why.
So, from what I understand, we're trying to use really tall trees that will be connected to the forest to set ablaze the fortress of the stag Lord. Won't that just set the forest on fire? We don't want to completely burn down all of our forces as well!
Secondly, it's a stone monastery. That's what Fat Norry, quoted, anyways, and I went back and found the quote.
Fat Norry wrote:
The bulk of the Stag Lord's fortress was there when they found it; a stone monastery long abandoned, two stories above the ground and one beneath. The bandits themselves constructed the three watchtowers, the catwalks connecting them, and a wall around the whole compound, tall as Auchs and covered in sharpened stakes.
So, the stone monastery is just going to succeed in burning down the watchtowers, which, while not a terrible idea, doesn't really accomplish much. The bulk of the fortress is still intact, and we can't really even take advantage of the confusion it'll cause by lighting the watchtowers on fire because the maze of lantern oil will prevent us from moving in on them. I don't know; I'm just really not certain what we are trying to accomplish here, and the risk seems much higher than the reward.
So, after all of that, feel free to move ahead and ignore this. Truly, I'm pretty certain I'm missing something, and everyone else seems to be on board, so that's fine. But I did want to throw a word of caution out there.
The "wall around the whole compound, tall as Auchs and covered in sharpened stakes" is their main defense, and it is made of wood. IF they start the fire, the trees ensure that their fortifications will burn, too. Fire preferentially burns upward, and since the trees will be resting on the wall, the walls will catch fire before the forest does. With survival checks, we can ensure that we choose trees on the up-wind side. This is also assuming that the falling trees don't simply crush the wall, which is also a possibility.
All this is largely intended as a distraction anyway, since we have already planned to get our main attack in through the tunnel. This means that if the fire does spread and the forces that we leave topside to cut down the trees need to retreat, that's still a bigger problem for the stag lord's people than it is for us. Remember, also, that if they let the wall burn, they have to worry about being overrun by zombies, even if we just pack up and leave after that.
We should probably have a plan to contain the fire, though. Maybe once the manticore is dead, while we're waiting for the tunnel to be ready and for our wire saws to be retrieved, we should have some of our other people clear the foliage from some strategic areas to limit the spread of any fire. We could use a map of what Mr. Winky (and any of our bandit cohorts who've been in the area before) can tell us about the surrounding terrain.
Set out to read the first few pages of a good book and lost track of time. I'm heading to sleep soon, but I should put a post up first.
Ozzy wrote:
Did Mr. Winky see any sign of the manticore in his recon?
There's a manticore sleeping on the roof of the monastery.
Re: Wire Saw: Honestly, I'm not sure what you plan to use one for. With ropes and such you could cut a tree down without being directly seen . . . but it'd still be hella loud and it wouldn't take genius with a +20 perception modifier to realize you're cutting a tree down. Does the wire saw have any advantage over a coupla axes with tower shields planted in front?
Ozzy wrote:
Also, we should set up the ambush so the sun will be at our backs, either to the east shortly after sunrise or to the west shortly before sunset. That way the manticore will have the sun in its eyes as it approaches, and the favorable conditions should be good for some bonuses for us and penalties for the it.
Hmm . . . I know it sounds insanely pedantic, but there aren't actually rules for which direction you attack from relative to the sun. I imagine that's so that everyone doesn't have to keep in mind what time of day it is when deciding whether to have the rogue tumble past the bandit for the flank, or if the fighter and rogue should take withdraw actions away from the fight and come back with the sun to their sides so that no one's taking a penalty . . . anyway, it seems to add a level of complexity to the game that doesn't add to the game, and I've always kind of assumed that things like whether the sun's in your eyes or the footing not firm enough were just accounted for by the variance in die rolls. (roll low, sun's in your eyes. Roll high, you squint through it.)
Bright Awn wrote:
Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17 not sure how many days that is good for...
DC 15 to predict one day in advance, for every five you beat the DC by you can predict another.
Weather forecast for tommorow: Windy with a chance of fire and violence:
Re: Wire Saw: Honestly, I'm not sure what you plan to use one for. With ropes and such you could cut a tree down without being directly seen . . . but it'd still be hella loud and it wouldn't take genius with a +20 perception modifier to realize you're cutting a tree down. Does the wire saw have any advantage over a coupla axes with tower shields planted in front?
Using a wire saw should be quieter than using axes. Should also make it more difficult to locate where the sound is coming from, or to guess that the falling tree is coming their direction. Do we have tower shields? I would think that at this point, wire saws would be easier to get.
DM_Scholar wrote:
Hmm . . . I know it sounds insanely pedantic, but there aren't actually rules for which direction you attack from relative to the sun. I imagine that's so that everyone doesn't have to keep in mind what time of day it is when deciding whether to have the rogue tumble past the bandit for the flank, or if the fighter and rogue should take withdraw actions away from the fight and come back with the sun to their sides so that no one's taking a penalty . . . anyway, it seems to add a level of complexity to the game that doesn't add to the game, and I've always kind of assumed that things like whether the sun's in your eyes or the footing not firm enough were just accounted for by the variance in die rolls. (roll low, sun's in your eyes. Roll high, you squint through it.)
Actually, I think that kind of planning is exactly the type of thing that circumstance bonuses were made for. They are, of course, at the GM's discretion, but the circumstance bonus system was designed to allow the GM to adjust the difficulty of tasks based on favorable/unfavorable conditions not specifically covered anywhere else in the rules. In a battle where neither side had the opportunity and forethought to ensure that the enemy had the sun in their eyes, you'd be right that such things are covered by the randomness of a d20 roll, but when those things aren't random, circumstance bonuses allow the GM to adjust for that.
The wind is coming from the 1d4 ⇒ 2 East. That's the side with the zombies.
If the trees are enough to knock down part of the wall, doing this on the zombie side might be best. No fire, and it gives the zombies a way into the fort. It's basically biological warfare... or at least it would be these were virus-type zombies instead of magic-type zombies...
So, if I'm not mistaken, current plans are:
1) Lure manticore with poorly hidden spy
2) Bring it down with ballista harpoon operated by ozzy, happs, and a few unnamed bandits
3) mites & kobolds dig tunnel, and Guthruc runs to Oleg's to grab wire saw
4) using wire saw, cut down tall trees from out of sight so they lean/crash atop the fortress walls
5) ignite fiery shrub trap, potentially burning down their walls, letting zombies in. Prevent large forest fire (how?)
6) using tunnel, release underground prisoner
7) attack the fort from below
7A) use snakes in front of important passages to reduce the flow of reinforcements
7B) use wand of dancing darkness to cut off vision to watch towers and other alarm/sniper positions remaining
7C) piss off auchs with bags o' bees to lure him away from the fight
7D) defeat the stag lord and his right hand man
7E) recruit those who accept us as their new leaders and kill the rest
I'm actually now thinking that we don't actually start the fire. We get the trees in position that they can't start the fire without burning their own fortifications. This will make them believe that an attack is coming from that direction, and take away their first line of defense (the fire) while compromising their second (the wall). They'll know that if they start the fire, both lines will be gone, and they'll have to deal with the zombies, and we can just wait for the fire to burn itself out and walk right in. The logical thing for them to do would be to NOT start the fire, but put every man they have on those walls to repel the attack they'll think is coming. This will make the basement path clear. If they do start the fire, their walls will be burning, and they'll need everybody topside to fight the fire, watch for use to try to attack through the fire, and repel the zombies who will be able to enter once the wall is burned.
Ok, so- just a couple of things- how do we plan to cut the trees down on the zombie side without getting attacked by zombies ourselves?
Second: If the point of starting the fire was to lure the manticore out? If that's not the case, then why not just go with my suggestions on luring it out?
Third: If we do want to recruit the bandits (of which I am in 100% agreement), why not just walk up after we kill the manticore and ask them to surrender? I doubt it'll work, but it'll make us look much more peaceful, while they look like the bad guys. Plus, the only ones we need to kill are the Stag Lord and maaaaybe Nugrah, if he's experimenting on people. Plus, the more I hear about Akiros Ismort, the more useful he sounds. I would really, really like to convert him/keep him alive.
Sorry for missing the last two days, the site was down and then something unexpected came up. (Which I couldn't give advance warning about, as the site was down.)
Ozzy wrote:
Using a wire saw should be quieter than using axes.
Won't contest you there. The things are still hella loud. Less whack whack whack tiiiiiimmmmbuuuuuuur loud and more loud like . . . a saw.
Ozzy wrote:
Do we have tower shields?
A good third of your kobolds are equipped with tower shields.
Quote:
Actually, I think that kind of planning is exactly the type of thing that circumstance bonuses were made for.
I don't want combats to devolve into PC and NPC alike vying for who gets to have the sun at their backs, and I don't particularly want to track which direction the sunlight is coming from. Ever. I cannot think of anything that sounds less fun than telling a player who has forgotten that they need to subtract two from their attack roll on account of the sun coming from the right side of the battle grid this fight.
Guthruc wrote:
7C) piss off auchs with bags o' bees to lure him away from the fight
That I would pay to see.
Abaos wrote:
Ok, so- just a couple of things- how do we plan to cut the trees down on the zombie side without getting attacked by zombies ourselves?[/ooc]
Up to y'all. None of you have actually seen any zombies, though you've inferred where they are. Could be that cutting a tree down from far enough away will keep them from getting agitated.
Abaos wrote:
Second: If the point of starting the fire was to lure the manticore out? If that's not the case, then why not just go with my suggestions on luring it out?
I think that Ozzy wants to start the fire so that the ignitable fortifications can't be used against your dudes if/when they try and invade over land. That it would also draw out the manticore was an added bonus.
Abaos wrote:
Third: If we do want to recruit the bandits (of which I am in 100% agreement), why not just walk up after we kill the manticore and ask them to surrender?
I asked y'all how you wanted to approach. There's more than one way to skin this cat, as all cats. Except ocelots. Only one way to skin ocelots. At least, only one proper way. Heathens go skinning ocelots whatever way they feel like. What's this world come to.
Honestly, I didn't expect this to be such a hold up . . . I'm still new to GMing play by post. In the future, I think I'll avoid setting up scenarios that basically require sitting down and thinking up a complicated plan of attack, instead adding complications after battle has been met and there's more incentive for characters to act on their initiative.
Male Woodborn Seer 4; HP 31/31; AC 19/T15/FF 17; Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +7; Init +6; Per +11; Spd 30 ft. CMB +5, CMD 17
I'm with you DM. ;p
Sorry for the lack of input, but it also makes sense that Awn isn't really that creative strategically, nor does he have a band of fey or foresty types to cajole into fighting for a spurious cause.
Honestly, I didn't expect this to be such a hold up . . . I'm still new to GMing play by post. In the future, I think I'll avoid setting up scenarios that basically require sitting down and thinking up a complicated plan of attack, instead adding complications after battle has been met and there's more incentive for characters to act on their initiative.
To be quite honest, I don't think I've ever seen a fight scene prep take this long either. Either we're all really, really bad procrastinators, or we just need to go ahead and fix this up. Or both.
So, guys, let's get our gameplan finished by tomorrow night, at the absolute latest. Obviously, sooner would be better. Sound good?
Gameplan thus far, taken from Guthruc's list, but edited
So, if I'm not mistaken, current plans are:
1) Not certain where the spy thing came from, I really don't. But, I've put a couple of ideas up. So, I'm going to go with having Garess run up as planned, pretend to see the fire for the first time, launch a flaming arrow at it to ignite it, and then book it out of there. UNLESS THERE IS A VERY COMPELLING REASON NOT TO DO THIS, that's the plan, I think.
2) Bring it down with ballista harpoon operated by ozzy, happs, and a few unnamed bandits
3) mites & kobolds dig tunnel, and Guthruc runs to Oleg's to grab wire saw
4) using wire saw, cut down tall trees from out of sight so they lean/crash atop the fortress walls
5) ignite fiery shrub trap, potentially burning down their walls, letting zombies in. Prevent large forest fire (how?)
6) using tunnel, kill underground prisoner (Nugrah) (from what we've gathered, he's actually worse than the Stag Lord, may in fact be the Stag Lord's father, and we promised Garess and Bokken we'd kill him)
7) attack the fort from below
7A) use snakes in front of important passages to reduce the flow of reinforcements
7B) use wand of dancing darkness to cut off vision to watch towers and other alarm/sniper positions remaining
7C) piss off auchs with bags o' bees to lure him away from the fight
7D) defeat the stag lord and his right hand man (possibly leave Akiros alive, maybe)
7E) recruit those who accept us as their new leaders and kill the rest
In Between all these steps is Rule 1: Be Awesome and Rule 2: When in doubt, improvise[/ooc]
You have us burning the defenses twice. It's not like they reset. Once stuff burns, it's burned. The spy idea came from trying to AVOID burning them (or giving the stag lord's people a reason to ignite them) before we could knock down the trees. Plus, if the fire does spread, we want to make sure that DOSN'T happen before we're ready for our main attack.
As I mentioned, we definitely do not want that to happen when we're trying to draw out the manticore. If the forest is burning while we're attacking from below, and we've had time to clear strategic areas to limit its spread, that's not great, but it's more their problem than ours.
Alrighty folks, there's just a few clarifications I need before I get to narrating the assault on the fortress.
Are y'all or are y'all not starting a fire? If my reading comprehension has not failed me, there are two conflicting plans. In one, ya'll'll be starting a fire (presumably digging a firebreak beforehand) to remove the threat of the other blokes starting one. The second plan has ya'll chopping down some trees in the hopes that if the defenders light the place up the fire'll spread up the trees and then light fire to the pallisade faster then the Stag Lord's dudes + Auchs can push a few logs off the top of their wall. The goal of the second plan is that the defenders will be too frightened to start the fire themselves, and will instead wait around anxiously while your kobolds dig their tunnel.
Other thing that needs clarification, is Guthruc running off to fetch a wire saw, or do you guys plan to just use axes for your tree cutting needs? Will you guys even be cutting down trees?
We need to take out the manticore first. I argue that we should NOT start the fire in order to do so, because it's a one-shot thing, and we can use it to better advantage later. We will also have time for creating fire breaks while digging the tunnel, which we have to start AFTER taking out the manticore, whereas doing so while it is in play will likely draw unwanted attention from it. If we can agree that starting the fire now would be a bad idea because the fire will spread out of control without a fire break and will not give us a strategic advantage until we can cut down the trees, we can proceed to the manticore fight (luring it out with a fake spy, and no fire), and figure out the specifics of how we want to cut down the trees and deal with the fire later.
Abaos's plan involves lighting the fire twice, which as I understand it, won't work (and the later one is more important). That and the fact that we can't control the spread of the fire now are both, in my mind, very compelling reasons NOT to light the fire now, which is why I offered the spy plan as an alternative. A show of force with Garess's troops, even if they don't start the fire, is likely to result in the stag lord's people lighting it in an attempt to repel those forces.
I'm just going to go with Ozzy's plan, because I'm very confused. She sounds like she's got it worked out, so whatever she says, that's the plan. That work for you, Ozzy? Can you lay out the plan, in a step-by-step manner, and we'll follow it?
